Electrochemical energy conversion and storage in new, advanced battery systems will undoubtedly contribute to finding solutions to the world's energy problems and, in particular, to lessening its dependence on fossil fuels for transportation. Non-aqueous, lithium batteries offer the most flexible chemistries and the best promise for greater-than-incremental improvement over known battery systems, particularly in terms of their practical energy and power performance.
The most significant advantage of lithium batteries over aqueous systems is that they can operate at voltages significantly higher than the decomposition potential of water (about 1.2 V). Despite the progress that has been made in recent years with conventional LixC6/LiCoO2 cells that operate at about 4 V, the energy and power densities of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries for the mass storage of energy, e.g., for large scale applications such as electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, are still limited by the specific and volumetric capacities of the electrode materials currently in use. New materials are required to advance lithium battery technology. The present invention provides novel positive electrode (cathode) materials, for a future generation of lithium electrochemical cells and batteries. The invention also provides examples of such electrode materials, methods for synthesizing the electrodes, and evaluating the electrodes in non-aqueous lithium cells.